Blue Skies
by FlailFail
Summary: Angel is gone, Ella is missing, and the entire flock is in shambles. Can she save the world while she's picking up the pieces of the ruined puzzle that is her life? Who will be a better fit, Dylan or Fang? Is Angel lost forever? Max will have to find out.
1. Torture

I pushed my food around with my fork, staring listlessly down at my plate. It wasn't that the food wasn't good. If anything, Iggy's cooking had improved since a month ago when we returned from Paris. Everyone did their best to occupy themselves every minute of the day, because no one wanted to think about Angel.

But at mealtimes it was dead silent. It was painfully obvious how broken our family had become. I missed the laughter, and the food fights, and just being kids. But it seemed like everyone had aged five years after leaving France.

Poor Gazzy, his eyes were never dry. The smallest thing would remind him of his sister – strawberries and teddy bears and the ocean. And Total was devastated too, head low and tail drooping. Nudge hadn't spoken two words to me since we got back. I hated to say it, but I missed her motormouth. Iggy was constantly flying, and I understood why. From way up in the clouds, everything seemed a little less hopeless. With the sun on your back and the wind in your hair, you felt almost whole again.

Almost. Never quite. It was like someone had torn off a little piece of my heart, and every time Angel slipped to the back of my mind, the edges of the wound throbbed, bringing all that hurt and grief and guilt back. No matter what anyone said, Angel's death was my fault.

I felt someone's gaze on me, but I didn't look up. I knew who it was. Quietly, I got up and dumped Iggy's shrimp alfredo in the garbage. It was delicious, I was sure of it, but I didn't have the appetite to eat it. Out of the corner of my eye, my suspicions were confirmed. Deep turquoise eyes were boring into the back of my head, watching with what looked like pain.

Dylan was hurting too. Though he'd only been with us for a little while, he'd grown to love Angel as much as we did. Losing her had dealt him an equally heavy blow as it had to all of us. I turned around and walked outside and sat on the stoop. I wasn't surprised to hear footsteps follow me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder as I watched the sun sink below the desert, knowing that Ella was out there somewhere. God, my life was a wreck. But the strangest thing was that I didn't flinch at the familiar touch, that I didn't scoot away when he sat down beside me with a sigh.

I turned away from the sunset and studied his face in the disappearing light, and his turquoise eyes met mine questioningly. I felt all the barriers I'd put up between us start to crumble. I opened my mouth to explain myself, and again surprised myself. "I'm sorry, Dylan. I'm sorry that I can't get over Fang." I thought about the blowout on the plane to Paris, and about what Angel had said afterward.

"He's not coming back. I know that. And I don't want you to feel like I'm settling for you. Because, believe me, I'm not." I looked out to the last brilliant flare of the sun, unable to meet his eyes any longer. "It's just … Dylan, I can't keep pushing you away. It's too hard. I think that I have to stop fighting you. Because I'm stronger with you than without you."

He just continued watching me thoughtfully. "Are you sure, Max? You're doing this for you, not just for me? Because I want you to be happy, even if it means that you're happy without me."

A tear seeped out the corner of my eye. "You see, that's why I think I'm falling for you, Dylan. How can I resist someone that puts me first like that? Damnit, you're just making it too easy! I – I don't like feeling this … vulnerable."

Dylan gathered me to him, and I started to cry in earnest. "You're not vulnerable, Max. You're the strongest person I know. And anyway, I'll always be here to catch you if you fall." He stroked my hair comfortingly, and for the first time, I didn't compare him to Fang. For better or worse, he was out of my life, and I could no longer deny Dylan. Fang had gotten over me, and I could do the same.

I started to doze off in Dylan's arms, his warmth keeping away the biting cold of the desert. I felt something familiar brush against my consciousness. _-ng, Nudge, Iggy, anybody?_ Angel's voice cried, sounding frightened and desperate. Surely a dream. _Max, I don't know where I am, but I'm trying to get to you. _ Her words sounded strained, like this was costing her immensely. _Please, don't give up on me, and I promise I won't give up on you. I'll keep fighting them. I'll find a way out. Just, please._

She also sounded very far away, like I was standing on the shore while she was on a ship sailing over the horizon. _Whatever happens, I love you, Max. Oh, if only you knew the things I know! I've seen how it's all going to end. It's so terrible, Max! _Or maybe I had my feet planted firmly on the ground, and her shadow was being swallowed up by the sun.

I shifted uncomfortably, tucked against Dylan's side by his wing. My subconscious was doing a very good job of conjuring up Angel's voice, of making sure that the inflection was just right, that the pitch was dead on. I could feel myself falling for the trap, and I longed to open my eyes and dispel the dream, but it was just too hard. When would the torture end?

_Does anybody hear –_ and then her voice was cut off, finally. It was so cruel of my mind to play tricks on me like this, to offer up my wildest fantasy as if waiting to see if I'd take the bait. But I wouldn't, and eventually, I slipped into dreams that made more sense. Nightmares filled with ghosts of my past, but nonetheless they made sense.


	2. Echo

We were scouting ahead; the rest of the gang was setting up base camp about ten miles back. It was late afternoon, but dark comes quickly in the rainforest.

I started to relax, seeing as nothing dangerous seemed to be poking its head up. And not like panther-dangerous, or boa-constrictor-dangerous. More like mutants-hell-bent-on-killing-other-mutants-dangerous.

Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to be carried by the air current, enjoying the way the wind brushed my feathers gently. I swear, nothing was better than flying. Just you and the sky, in a delicate dance. A serene smile formed on my face as I glided effortlessly.

Apparently my traveling companion found this funny. She laughed, and it was like the sound of wind chimes lightly tapping each other in a breeze. It was a beautiful laugh, but it was nothing like Max's. I opened my eyes, giving her a funny sideways look. "Think we should head back?"

She nodded, and angled one of her wings, causing her to soar in a large semi-circle. When she was facing the opposite direction she tilted her wing back to its original position, and with a powerful down-stroke, she was off.

I did the same, and it was easy enough to catch up with her. I would never have admitted it to her face, but it had always been a struggle to keep up with Max, even when she wasn't using her turbo boost.

It was strange how my thoughts kept leading back to Max these days. I couldn't keep her off my mind. Seeing her again had just brought up all those faded feelings of regret and breathed life back into them again.

And seeing her with Dylan especially made me wish that I had never left her. I was sure that he was taking advantage of my absence in every way possible, and I had no doubt that Max was succumbing to his charm. After all, it was only a matter of time.

I wondered if there was a soul mate out there for me – a perfect match, just as Dylan was for Max. Because, to be honest, I wanted my peace back. What I had felt just moments before was not peace, but a weak echo of it. What I'd had before was a beautiful summer day. And what I had now was only the eye of a storm – a brief rest before I had to face the tempest again.

My thoughts were interrupted by a low buzzing sound, accompanied by a strange vibrating sensation in my pocket. Realizing what it was, I took my phone out, and checked the caller ID. Speak of the devil. I swallowed hard, and looked up to see her watching me curiously. "Aren't you going to answer it?"

"Um, yeah. Right." Taking a deep breath, I flipped the phone open. "Hey, Max."

"Fang?" she asked, her voice kind of crackly and distant.

"The one and only," I replied, feeling my lips twitch slightly, wanting to smile. But the sound of her voice made me all confused again. I loved her so much, but she didn't see that what I did was for the good of the flock. I wanted to move on, but she made it so hard.

"Very funny. So what are you –" Her voice was cut off then by a large hiss.

"Max? Are you there?"

"- on your blog." Max continued as if nothing had happened.

"What'd you say? The connection's really bad, so –"

"Don't tell me that this is when you make noises like we're breaking up and then hang up on me," she interjected, sounding very annoyed.

_I've already done that,_ I thought sadly. Out loud, I said, "No, this is when I find someplace to land." I scanned the ground for a clearing of some sort, but the canopy was unbroken for miles around. Guess I had to do this the hard way.

"Sorry, I didn't catch the last part," she said. "What are you finding?" Away from the phone I heard her say, _"Dylan, stop that, I'm on the phone!_"

I leaned forward a bit, my mind racing with all the possible things that Dylan could be doing to bother her right now. "Ah, never mind. Hold on a sec." I lost altitude fast, and the green rushed up to meet me. Phone gripped tightly in my right hand, I folded my wings up, and flipped so I would land feet first. My flying partner followed suit.

We hit the canopy hard, but the leaves broke our fall considerably. We slid off the wet foliage and I grabbed a branch with my left hand and swung from it, landing with a thud in a thick bed of what looked prehistoric ferns. I heard an answering crash as my companion did the same.

Both of us stood up and brushed ourselves off, and apart from a few scrapes and bruises we were fine. I was happy to see that the cell phone had survived the crash. What I was not so happy to see was that my battery was almost dead. Better finish this call quick. "So you were saying?" I asked, putting the phone up to my ear again.

"Well, I've been checking your blog, and things didn't look too promising. I was wondering if you were getting anywhere."

"Oh, well, we're following a lead that Gazzy gave us. From the phone calls that Mark guy made, it sounded like his boss was somewhere in South America."

"Is that where you are now? Great, so this is long-distance."

"Sorry," I replied.

"So you guys are basically on a wild goose chase? Because, I don't know if you're aware, but South America is a big continent."

I sighed. I forgot how grating Max could be sometimes. "Yes, I'm aware. We've narrowed it down to somewhere in the north of Brazil, with some help. Speaking of that, guess who's here?" She looked up when she realized we were talking about her.

"The Easter Bunny," Max deadpanned, and I chuckled.

"Guess again."

"A bloodthirsty tribe of Amazonians."

"Closer."

I hear her gasp. "Angel? Did you find Angel? Oh, Fang, you're the best!" The smile disappeared from my face instantly. I hadn't meant to get her hopes up.

"Um, no, Max. I'm sorry."

"Who, then?" She was angry now. How did I always manage to make her angry?


	3. Fray

**Hello, all. Thanks for sticking through this rather rough patch of mine. Between vacation, summer homework, and other duties, I've found it really difficult to keep up with this. But as a reward, here is a rather juicy chapter that really gets this whole show on the road. Happy reading!**

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><p>I played with Max's hair as she talked on the phone with Fang, even though she's made it clear that it distracts her. But I needed something to distract <em>me<em> from the jealousy simmering just below my skin as I listened to the buzz of his voice.

Max had taken a shower recently, so her hair still smelled slightly of shampoo, and was neither matted with blood nor streaked with dirt – both products of no longer being a bird-kid on the run.

And although I'm sure the entire flock was enjoying being relatively clean, uninjured, and well fed, you could tell that the inaction was getting through to everyone – that the pent-up energy had each of us itching to be doing _something_.

That's partly why Max had called, I think. She missed being needed, and would love it if Fang asked for backup. God, even _I_ would come crawling on my hands and knees if that would mean an escape from the boredom of the last few weeks.

To be honest, we'd grieved as much as we could, and we weren't doing a service to ourselves or to Angel's memory by moping about while the Doomsday Group grew stronger and larger with each passing day.

Max turned then, yanking her hair out of my hands, and effectively snapping me out of my thoughts. "Dylan, stop that, I'm on the phone!" From Fang's end, I heard him say, "_Ah, never mind. Hold on a sec._"

The speaker hissed and crackled then for a good thirty seconds, and then the din ended with a loud thump. It was silent for a heartbeat before the conversation resumed again.

I was only half-listening then, for as their discussion turned to locations and plans and high phone bills, it became less and less interesting. Suddenly I was back to full attention as Fang asked, "_… guess who's here?_"

Max said completely straight-faced, "The Easter Bunny." Apparently that wasn't the right answer. "A bloodthirsty tribe of Amazonians." Wrong again. Then I watched as something occurred to her, bringing with it a dozen different expressions before it finally decided on a strange mixture of gratitude and joy.

"Angel? Did you find Angel? Oh, Fang, you're the best!" And although I resented her praise for him, I was just as happy as she was. I picked her up and swung her in a circle, attracting the notice of the entire flock.

I set her down, a huge grin on my face, only to find that her eyebrows were set in an angry line. "Who, then?" she asked Fang with a scowl, glancing up at me, eyes hard and unreadable. Evidently that hadn't been the correct answer either. "Because if you're playing games with me, Fang, so help me, I will personally come down there and roundhouse kick you into next Tuesday."

Normally I would have been tickled pink to see him on the wrong end of her fury, but I was just as crestfallen at that moment as the next bird-kid. "Oh," Max said then, obviously taken by surprise by his answer. "Well, tell her I said hi, then. Oh, and call as soon as you find something. Okay, good night." And with that, she hung up.

"So, who was it?" Nudge asked before I could. Iggy and Gazzy watched Max with expectant eyes.

"Skye, that girl from the Institute, remember?" Everyone nodded their heads but me. I opened my mouth to ask, but just then, all hell broke loose.

The bay windows in the living room exploded, spraying glass everywhere. Now, normal kids would scramble behind the counter that divided the two spaces, and hide there until adults came to the rescue.

But really, most adults were the enemies.

All of us immediately assumed fighting stances, and I saw the familiar glint in Max's eyes as she tensed for battle. I guess her day was already proving to be a good one, and it was still early.

But nothing could have prepared us for what came through the gaping hole in the wall. And let me tell you, the five of us have seen some pretty strange things.

They were mostly human, but sported at least eight arms instead of the regular two. I was surprised that they could still stand up straight – they seemed too top-heavy, with only two legs. My guess was that they were injected with either spider DNA or giant octopus DNA. I was leaning towards the giant octopus theory, seeing as they were easily eight feet tall. Either that or growth hormone.

Max and I looked at each other. "The Doomsday Group?" I asked. She shrugged, the universal sign that the answer to that question was irrelevant. Either way, these guys were getting an ass-kicking.

The flock flew into action. Figuratively.

Gazzy and Nudge were teaming up on one, arms and legs a blur. But it seemed that none of their punches or kicks were landing – with all those extra limbs, the octo-man was blocking them with what seemed like no effort at all.

Iggy was tackling one all on his own, but his sight didn't seem to impair him much. Two arms snuck behind him, looking as if they were about to choke him – and that's when I noticed small suckers on their undersides – but before I could warn him, he spun around and karate-chopped them, and I heard the sickening crunch of bone.

Max was fighting two all by herself, and was doing quite well. Her strategy seemed to be to confuse them and tie them up in knots – literally. Their arms seemed to be very flexible, so much so that it was hard to believe that they even had bones. But Iggy had demonstrated that fact quite clearly.

As I hesitated, wondering who I should help first, I nearly got bowled over by Akila and Total joining the fray. They knocked the legs out from under the octo-man Gazzy and Nudge were fighting, and soon the two bird-kids had the upper hand. Then the dogs started biting and clawing at the screaming mutant as he lay there on the ground, using two of his arms to protect his face.

Satisfied that they had the situation under-control, I grabbed a frying pan and brought it down on the head of Iggy's opponent. He crumbled to the ground, out cold. Iggy high-fived me and then went to help Max finish off the other two, while I dragged the defeated octo-man over to the other one.

Nudge handed me a thick rope, which I used to tie the two octo-men together, making sure that the heavy braid secured all of their limbs. Then I tied it into a gigantic knot that even a Boy Scout would be proud of. Iggy dragged Max's octo-men over and I did the same with them, even though their arms were already entangled enough to keep them occupied for days.

I straightened up and brushed my hands off on my jeans, feeling satisfied. Then a scream pierced the air, before it was cut off abruptly.

We all spun around to see a fifth octo-man dragging an unconscious Max out of the shattered bay windows. Well, technically Iggy didn't see it, but whatever.

"Max!" Gazzy cried, unfurling his wings and flying out after her. We all did the same, and stopped dead in the air when we saw what was waiting for us. Or rather, the conspicuous lack of anything waiting for us at all. It was just the lone octo-man, towing her across the jungle of the lawn.

Then everything happened real quickly.

The air shimmered, and an alien-looking ship appeared out of thin air, just long enough for Max to be hauled on board before it dissolved into nothingness again. It was like something out of a movie. A blast of hot air washed over our faces and then, from what I could tell, they were gone.

I sunk to my knees and buried my face in my hands. How could I have let her get away? I felt a hand tentatively touch my shoulder, as if to comfort me, but I was too far gone to acknowledge the gesture.

After a moment, I stood up and wiped a few tears away. Surveying the damage, to both the house and the flock, I made a snap decision, and went inside for Max's phone.


End file.
